iPhone 4S Unable to Detect Any WIFI Networks!!!!!

The freezing idea solved it..!!! I placed my 4S in a polythene bag in a freezer and then slept the whole night. In the morning I suddenly remembered about the phone and I was like Oh Crap!. Then I had to slowly increase the temperature of my 4S by placing it in another refrigerator and then by unplugging the refrigerator. Sudden change in temperature can cause permanent damage. In the end, my 4S got the signals.

Is the freezer method really that effective? I have been trying everything, such as resetting my network settings, but whenever I do so, the Wifi button is dimmed after my iPhone restarts! What should I do?!?!

Hi the freezer method sometimes works for me, and sometimes nothing. I guess next time I may try the hairdryer first? It really is annoying that a phone that could sell for around £700.00 a few years ago is now deemed obsolete by the richest company in the world!

EDIt- Update- 15 mins in the freezer with the phone on and wifi off and I have wifi again. Let's see how long for this time.

Hi the freezer method sometimes works for me, and sometimes nothing. I guess next time I may try the hairdryer first? It really is annoying that a phone that could sell for around £700.00 a few years ago is now deemed obsolete by the richest company in the world.

EDIT- update- Freezer method worked. iPhone left on but wifi off, no hairdryer, freezer for 15mins and I have wifi. Let's see how long this lasts!!!

Yup sadly when this happens there's probably something mechanical wrong with the phone. For some the freezer method can works for months, but you know what most Apple stores will replace the darn thing for you for $99. You just have to work with your phone company to get it unlocked again.

My 4S also was unable to detect wifi networks. I heated my phone with a hairdryer and the wifi settings open and at a certain point networks were detected. I thought I was fixed but the next morning wifi was gone again. So I did the same thing but this time after networks were detected I did a hard reset (power and home buttons together) and this seems to have done the trick. I think that whatever heat does to reset the wifi chip, it's probably overkill and possibly damaging to the phone to heat it beyond this point (i.e. till it shuts down). Likewise, the rapid expansion and contraction caused by heating it and putting it in the freezer seems likely to cause connection problems inside the phone, due to damaging solder joints.

hesitate to try but so desperate to give up so i try to do freezer trick for 15 min & it works for me! So grateful that i tried

hope it's long lasting not only for 1 hour or 1 week

will update if something goes wrong

Thanks guys... my mom just had this problem with her iPhone 4S on Verizon network. She was so frustrated, she was about to chuck the phone and anything but an Apple product. To my amazement, asking Apple Tech support as well as personally going to an Apple Store as well as the Verizon store... no one had a clue! Each said that the phone had a hardware problem that would cost more to fix than to buy a new phone. Surprises me that Apple won't even look at their own Apple Support Community blog to learn the problems with their products and effective solutions. Anyway, thanks to all again... the Freezer Solution worked after 10 minutes... and for free!

Ensure that you leave your iPhone powered ON, select Airplane Mode to turn OFF WiFi, leave for a FULL 10 minutes, and then take out of freezer and turn Airplane mode off to re-activate your WiFi. That's exactly what I did with my mom's iPhone 4S and it worked perfectly with the phone still operating properly a month later. Hope that helps!

Ensure that you leave your iPhone powered ON, select Airplane Mode to turn OFF WiFi, leave for a FULL 10 minutes, and then take out of freezer and turn Airplane mode off to re-activate your WiFi. That's exactly what I did with my mom's iPhone 4S and it worked perfectly with the phone still operating properly a month later. Hope that helps!

Thank you so much, Yousif! This worked for me. I put my iphone4s in the fridge for 13 minutes, temperature is 7 degree celsius and was turned off.

When I turned it on -- AMAZING!!! It can now detect my wifi! Gracias!!!

Thank You, thank you, thank you! I had tried everything I could find to fix this problem. Who knew that all you had to do is freeze the phone. It did not work after the first try of 10 min. Tried it two more times after that. The last time I left the phone and the wi-fi on in the freezer. Also didn't hear the timer go off and it got left in almost a total of 20 min on the last try. Hit the home button and saw it said NO SERVICE and then it shut down due to low battery. When I Plugged it in it started up I went to settings then network and there popped up network connections to choose from!

I had this issue in the past and apple just gave me a replacement phone. I so did not want to have to do that again.

THANK YOU!

Hello !!

even my wi-fi has stopped working after over-heating . I tried the freezer technique kept my phone in freezer for about 10 minutes it started working for a few minutes ( about 3-4 minutes ) and then loses the network again .

Any inputs please ??

i havent tried putting it in the freezer because some people say it will ruin your battery life, besides, it will not hold your wifi on for long. i have tried reset network settings, reset all settings, hard reboot, turning on and off the wifi switch and the router but none of the tricks worked. some of them worked for only 2 minutes. i am going to put it in the freezer. if that doesnt work, i will have to do something with the hardware. will update tomorrow

Hey hannawu,

The freezer fix worked for me.

I simply put it in a zip lock bag with the wifi off - popped it in the freezer for 10 mins.

Then took it out and Voila! My wifi now works.🙂

Don't dismiss the freezer hack. It worked for me today, and in the past.

What do you have to lose?

Maybe 10-15 mins, or a more expensive and inconvenient alternative.

Thanks @ TheYousif for sharing this fix.